More than fires, floods and explosions?

I'd like to pick up from an earlier point I made about the there only being a narrow range of UGC offerings to broadcasters - namely fires, floods and explosions. 

This type of material fits well into broadcast news programmes where one of the objectives is to be first with the news. Breaking news before anyone else and with pictures, has long been a mark of a good news service. Footage of breaking news supplied by the public can be a springboard to success for a broadcaster in this respect.

Broadcasters can build authoritative reports around this kind of footage while retaining some kind of ownership and still managing to achieve differentiation between themselves and other services. Perhaps to broaden the range of public UGC used may be to hand over some ownership, especially if they enter into a more collaborative partnership.  In doing so the broadcaster may risk losing some control.

Look North from Leeds has been running a series of one minute films which are part of a film-making competition. Interestingly, for a whole minute, you wouldn't know you are watching Look North - no branding, no familiar presenters, different style. If you switched on the output at the start of the film you may be confused about whose service you are watching. This is a brave step.

In my time at the BBC, I saw the it move from being a producer led organisation to a marketing led organisation. High levels of creative control required to keep the output 'on message'. Every world, every piece of design, every film has to subscribe to the values  and rules of the brand.

My thinking is that broadcasters who really want to embrace a production relationship with the public have to address this issue of control. To carefully control the work being produced is to employ free slave labour for a corporate end. For a broadcaster to open the door to fresh and creative expressions might be to risk unusual, 'off message' voices access to their brand.   

If the broadcaster is to produce a brand that is resilient to public access brand pollution, it will have to embrace a production partnership with the public as part of its brand image. This will require a major investment and will not be cheap option, it should be seen simply as a cost cutting strategy.

So can we as broadcaster make this access - this open door hospitality - an essential part of our brand image?  Can we go into a genuinely creative partnership with the public where it is more than fires, floods and explosions? (Mark W)